Nightmare at Highbury as Italian interlopers turn Gunners into goners

Paris: Arsenal and Celtic suffered a nightmare start to their European Champions League campaigns on Wednesday as their hopes of joining Manchester United, Chelsea and Rangers in the British winners' circle were brought to a shuddering halt.

Arsenal, who often shine brightly in the premiership only to suffer a major power cut in Europe, were completely outclassed by Inter Milan, losing 3-0 at Highbury, while Celtic threw away a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 at Bayern Munich, for whom Roy Makaay grabbed both goals.

The defeats were particularly disappointing as they came just a day after United crushed Panathinaikos 5-0, Chelsea pulled off a battling 1-0 win at Sparta Prague and Rangers came back from a goal down to see off Stuttgart 2-1 at Ibrox.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, last year's runners-up Juventus beat Galatasaray 2-1, while there was a double celebration for France with Lyon beating Anderlecht 1-0 and Monaco enjoying an impressive 2-1 reward from their trip to PSV Eindhoven.

But it was at Highbury where the most intense inquisition was being carried out as Arsenal's hopes of reaching the knock-out stages suffered a huge setback.

"It's very disappointing because we started very brightly but we made the wrong decisions in the box," said Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger.

"We were a bit naive on the goals. It is difficult to say what went wrong, it is painful enough to lose."

By contrast, Inter coach Hector Cuper was delighted with his team's impressive performance.

"It was a beautiful Inter tonight," Cuper said. "I must compliment everyone because they were extraordinary."

Goals from Julio Cruz, Andy van der Meyde and Nigerian teenager Obafemi Martins killed off the match before the break as Inter made light of the absence of Christian Vieri.

In the other group B match, Dynamo Kiev beat Lokomotiv Moscow 2-0.

Meanwhile, Roy Makaay repaid a huge slice of his €18.75 million ($31.93m) fee with two late strikes to cancel out Alan Thompson's opener and hand Bayern Munich a 2-1 victory over Celtic in group A at the Olympic Stadium.

Makaay volleyed home with 73 minutes gone and then added his second from close range four minutes from the end.

Last season's beaten finalists Juventus opened their campaign with a scrappy 2-1 win over Galatasaray at the Delle Alpi stadium.

Veteran central defender Ciro Ferrara scored the winning goal with a close range effort after 73 minutes to save Juve's blushes after Hakan Sukur had cancelled out Alessandro Del Piero's early opener for the home side.

In the other group D match, Real Sociedad beat Olympiakos 1-0.

Monaco saw off PSV Eindhoven 2-1 in group C with goals either side of half-time from Spanish international Fernando Morientes and Edouard Cisse.

That gave Monaco the edge in their group as Deportivo La Coruna and AEK Athens fought out a 1-1 draw in Greece.